Thursday, September 3, 2015

The first love in the world

There is an old Indian legend that says that in the beginning
of the world men had four arms and four feet. They had such a high opinion of
themselves they thought they were as good as the Great Spirit. This got the
Great Spirit’s goat, naturally, so he took a knife and sliced them down the
middle. Well, right away the two halves wanted to get together again, and their
longing was the first love in the world. They dragged around till one day they
met the Spirit of Fire and he asked what was the matter, for he saw they were
down in the dumps. “We want you to sear us with flame,” they said, “melt us
into one, for that is our only desire on earth.” So the Spirit of Fire took
pity on them and did what they asked. And ever since, all the unconnected
halves running around want to be seared with flame and melted together.

About Me

The picture is of my step-great-aunt Ardyth Kennelly (married name Ullman) at her typewriter. Her last novel, "Variation West," was published in 2014 by Sunnycroft Books; her memoirs are being prepared for publication. For more information, please visit ardythkennelly.com.